Nightfall

The mountain peak was the Buddha, and it took Ning Que decades to change it to the statue of Sangsang. There was no image of the Buddha left on the surface of the cliff, but part of the Buddha still existed in the depths of the mountain. Ning Que turned himself into a Bodhi tree to lure the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to worshipping him. Buddha could no longer remain silent.

The Consciousness of Buddha came from the deepest part of the cliff and entered his heart.

“I have become Buddha,” Ning Que said to the Consciousness of Buddha. His expression was very relaxed, just like chatting with an old acquaintance.

Buddha replied, “I am still among all living beings. If you can’t find me and kill me, you will never become Buddha.”

The Buddha here was the only true Buddha in Heaven and on Earth. Ning Que knew that it was true. Just as it was impossible to kill Haotian in Haotian’s world, it was also impossible to kill Buddha in Buddha’s world, and it was even impossible to find him.

“Why are you so serious? I never thought that the inheritance of Buddhism should be like the inheritance of the throne in the human world. We can avoid the bloody massacre.” Ning said with a smile, “You being Buddha should not hinder me from becoming Buddha, for I do not want to rule your world. I am not Haotian and I am not interested in killing you. I just want to leave.”

“How can you leave?”

“I can become Buddha if I take away the wills of all living beings.”

“How can you take away the wills of all living beings?”

“You both know it. See…” Looking at the giant ship on the river, Ning Que lifted his right index finger and wrote one word in the air towards the ship.

Sangsang was in his heart, and Divine Psyche went with his finger and landed on the giant ship.

The Bodhi tree on the peak began to shake, and the green leaves fluttered in the wind, becoming more rounded and wider.

Ning Que and Sangsang repaired the statue of Buddha by the means of harmony between man and nature. The mystery around it couldn’t be described in words. The combination of Ning Que’s Buddhist Vow and Sangsang’s Divine Heart was the irresistible psyche.

The psyche fell on one Buddha on the giant ship. The psyche told that Buddha: You must believe in me. That Buddha naturally resisted the profane request. He put his palms together and kept chanting with his eyes closed, struggling to fight against the request. But he became countless light spots and then disappeared from the ship in a flash.

The next moment, that Buddha came to the summit and sat on the leaf of the Bodhi tree. He kept swaying in the wild and revealed a great awakening between his eyebrows, paying tribute to Ning Que.

At this point, two Buddhas were lured by Ning Que’s Buddhist Vow to the summit and became his followers. They began to chant devoutly with their eyes closed, and they were praising Ning Que.

Ning Que felt that a faint but real power entered his body from the Bodhi tree, making him happy but also burdensome. He realized that it was the power of faith.

In the countless cyclic existence, except for Haotian, only the Buddha knew how to collect and use the power of faith. The Headmaster of Academy might reach the state, but he refused to do it. Ning Que should not be able to comprehend the Grand Divine Ability at his current state, but he could master the skill since he was bonded with Haotian.

Influenced by the Divine Psyche of Sangsang, Ning Que closed his eyes instinctively and crushed the Consciousness of Buddha that came from the depths of the cliff. He then began to chant with the two Buddhas on the Bodhi tree.

Buddha kept silent and disappeared without a trace. The waves in the river raged with great fury, and the big ship kept moving forward, trying hard to break the mountain and prevent Ning Que from becoming the Buddha. But it couldn’t reach the other side of the river.

It was because the Buddha on the other side was not the old Buddha.

Time kept flowing, but the rate remained a mystery since on one was observing. The Bodhi tree growing on Ning Que’s body flourished more and more, and countless green leaves grew on countless branches. The green leaves, looking like futons, were occupied by more and more Buddhas, which looked like the fruits on the tree.

There were more than a thousand Buddhas seeking refuge with Ning Que. One more Buddha on the Bodhi tree meant one less Buddha on the ship. But the change was not evident, for there were too many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the ship.

Ning Que closed his eyes silently, put his hands on the cliff stone on the summit casually and cultivated Buddhism with Sangsang, without knowing anything that was happening in the world or noticing the passing of time.

…

…

Thousands of years had passed in the world of the chessboard, but only three years had passed in the human world. At this point, it was the fifth year of Zhengshi in Great Tang and the three thousand four hundred and fifty-fourth year of Dazhi in West-Hill.

It was spring. The willow catkins were everywhere, and flowers of all kinds were in bloom, including the peach blossoms in the Divine Halls, the cherry blossoms in the Great River Kingdom, and the wild flowers in the Wilderness. But the pear tree was not in blossom.

“Is this a pear tree or an iron tree?” The crowd gathered under the pear tree by the lake in the Back Hill of the Academy and were angry about the lifeless leaves.

In the past three years, they had tried everything they could, but failed to open the Buddha’s chessboard. It appeared that the only opportunity to enter the chessboard was to wait for the tree to blossom and yield fruit. But the Eldest Brother said that it would take the pear tree five hundred years to blossom and yield fruit. How many people could live for five hundred years?

The pear tree did not bloom, and the peach blossoms in the meadow in front of the Academy did not bloom either. There were only a few flowers in blossom in Chang’an this year, for there was not much rain this spring. The spring thunder constantly rang among the clouds, but the air was dry.

It was weird that there was thunder but no storm. The Eldest Brother was puzzled while standing on the stone steps in front of the main hall of the palace and looking at the increasingly dense clouds in the sky.

Suddenly, a lightning appeared in the thick clouds and then fell to a certain place in Chang’an. The God-stunning Array sensed the danger and gave off a clear light.

The Eldest Brother came to Wanyan Tower in an instant. Looking at the temple which was destroyed by the lightning and the statue of Buddha which was burned dark, he somehow figured the whole matter out.

He came to the city wall and looked around. The clouds were about to cover the entire land, and lightnings kept striking, filling the land with black smoke. It seemed that the black smoke was coming from the Buddhist temples.

The next moment, the Eldest Brother returned to the Back Hill of the Academy and came to the pear tree by the lake. He quietly looked at the chessboard for quite a while and and then smiled.

“The Eldest Brother smiled!” The crowd in the Back Hill was very surprised.

The Eldest Brother was busy with national affairs over these years, such as preparing for the war and educating the new monarch. Besides, he was also worried about the wellbeing of Ning Que in the chessboard. With so many burdens on his shoulders, he hadn’t smiled like this for a long time.

Spring thunders kept roaring, but there was still no rain.

In the Lanke Temple, the three fronts were struck by lightning and the statue of Buddha collapsed. Moss appeared on the rock debris overnight, giving off the smell of sea breeze.

Monk Guan Hai and the other monks in the temple sat down in front of the broken halls with their legs crossed and were chanting. The Blind Monk kept screaming and scratching the mosses on the rocks crazily, “Something is going to happen. I can feel it!”

On the cliff yard of the Divine Halls, the Abbey Dean sat in a wheelchair, looked at the clouds covering the sky and the lightning falling from time to time and ordered, “Get ready for the sacrificial ceremony. My Master will return soon.”

The war at the bottom of the Giant Sinkhole of West Wilderness was still going on, and tens of thousands of serfs had been involved in fighting against the nobles and soldier monks of the Xuankong Temple.

The sound of arrows flying around hung over the field, mixed with the terrible screams. Blood and dead bodies were everywhere. At this point, a thick lightning fell from the dark clouds of the sky.

The lightning fell on the Grand Hall on the peak. With a loud noise, the hall collapsed and the statue of Buddha instantly turned into black powder!

Jun Mo waved the iron sword in front of his chest and kept Qi Nian and the Elders of the Commandment Hall a few li away with the Will of Rite. He looked at the black smoke coming from the summit and said indifferently, “Buddha has been defeated. You still think you can conquer me?”

After a few days of spring thunder, the spring rain finally fell, and it lasted for days. The spring rain this year was very heavy, which was unusual. It was washing the earth that had been struck by lightning.

The rain fell on the broken Buddhist temples, the broken statues of Buddha and the pale-faced monks. It was washing away the remaining Breaths of Buddha.

In the Back Hill of the Academy, the rain kept falling on the green leaves of the pear tree and then flew down, making the chessboard under the tree and the crowd around the chessboard all wet.

The naked upper body of the Sixth Brother was covered with drops which kept flying around like arrows as he waved the iron hammer to smash the chessboard.

They were all exhausted after so many years of hitting the chessboard, but they never thought of giving up. Besides, the Eldest Brother smiled, which indicated that they were getting close to finally breaking down the chessboard.

The sound of the hammer was as loud as spring thunder, and the sweat ran down the Sixth Brother’s body like raindrops.

One day, a slight sound suddenly came from the chessboard.

A thin line appeared on the chessboard. And the thin line was actually a very small crack which would be ignored if one was not looking carefully.

One day, a slight sound suddenly came from Ning Que’s head.

Ning Que opened his eyes and looked at the big ship which was still sailing to the other side of the river. After a long time of silence, he reached out to pick up the Bodhi tree between his eyebrows and smiled.

The Bodhi tree had grown very densely, and the prosperous green leaves seemed to cover the dark sky and blocked all of the Lights of Buddha. There were tens of thousands of Buddhas sitting on those green leaves. They had different shapes and different postures, but they were all paying tribute to Ning Que.

Even though the Bodhi tree was so huge, he just lifted it easily and then walked two steps aside. At this moment, Sangsang woke up and walked up to him holding the big black umbrella.

Ning Que inserted the Bodhi tree into a certain spot on the summit. The mountain peak was the Buddha, who was dark and thin, dressed in a handmaiden costume, and named Sangsang.

The Bodhi tree being inserted at the top of the mountain was like a flower being inserted in Sangsang’s hair.

Ning Que looked back at Sangsang and held her hand.

There was a white flower in Sangsang’s hair.

Just like one bringing a painted dragon to life by putting in the pupils of its eyes, it was also true to bring the statue of Buddha to life by inserting a flower in its hair.

Ning Que inserted the flower into Sangsang’s hair, and the Buddha woke up.

The small white flower in Sangsang’s hair fluttered in the wind and the Bodhi tree on the summit kept swaying too. All of the Buddhas sitting on the green leaves were paying tribute to Sangsang.

Ning Que felt that the wills of all living beings were flowing into his body as well as Sangsang’s body.

He laughed, and Sangsang laughed too. So all of the Buddhas on the green leaves laughed with them.

Then Sangsang stopped smiling and went silent. So all of the Buddhas were quiet too.

Sangsang looked at every part of the world indifferently, so the whole world became silent and indifferent.

Countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the big ship became frustrated.

The indigo lion roared, but it could not resist the power and pressure from the Buddha. With an unwilling whine, it could no longer support its body and kneeled down to the peak.